Now That The Dust Has Settled...

[ant2011]

My biggest complaint is how difficult and slow it is to rack up BP at the Battle tree, and how there are so few Mega Stones available, even after the Pokebank update. You can still get Alternate form Giratina and Shaymin, and the DNA Splicers for Kyurem. Why no love for all the mega pokemon? I got really attached to my Gardevoir, and now she can't be Mega anymore.

Still, I was really impressed with all the full body models and the more in depth character customization. It feels like X and Y all over again, more of a proof of concept than a full game.

SuMo=ORAS>B2W2>RSE>XY>RBY>HGSS>DPPt>BW>GSC

[Corey]

@Suicune's Fire @Pokemon Trainer Sarah

I feel like going into the game spoiler-free is a bad idea, because some of the changes and mechanics are really drastic and take some getting used to. Regional Variants, Z-Moves, Ultra Beasts, etc are pretty big additions, which I feel like most people thought were strange at first! And I personally thought the plot was great, though!

It looks like Sun and Moon is a hit or miss...

[SassySnivy]

They were great games and all, I just didn't feel the same immersion with them as I did in games like ORAS and HGSS. Probably because they had to take out a LOT of features due to space limitations. I mean for god's sake, not even double battles would even have a decent framerate! No national dex (yeah I know they made the national dex part of bank but that's kinda a stupid cop-out), only two ways to get shiny Pokemon. And also they basically threw away Mega Evolution in a way which was such a BIG component of the games. Gameplay-wise it was just...very lacking.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

@Suicune's Fire @Pokemon Trainer Sarah

I feel like going into the game spoiler-free is a bad idea, because some of the changes and mechanics are really drastic and take some getting used to. Regional Variants, Z-Moves, Ultra Beasts, etc are pretty big additions, which I feel like most people thought were strange at first! And I personally thought the plot was great, though!

It looks like Sun and Moon is a hit or miss...

Yeah I had a lot of freak outs while playing XD Especially when I realised there were no gyms!!! D: And also when I saw Alolan Dugtrio haha. But I woudn't take it back. The thing I really did enjoy was finding and evolving Pokemon. If I already knew them all, I would have been sadder about the games, I think. xD Also the Pokefinder was awesome. I spent hours taking photos. xD

Another thing, I thought Z moves were kinda lame, especially as a replacement for megas. I hardly ever used them. :/ I almost feel like the game should have been Z version instead of Gen 7. Then it would have been cool to change things up a lot. I just don't feel like it's strong enough to be the next generation, kinda. I was looking forward to a third Kalos game honestly. Now I gotta go back and play Y version I guess. xD

[SassySnivy]

Yeah I had a lot of freak outs while playing XD Especially when I realised there were no gyms!!! D: And also when I saw Alolan Dugtrio haha. But I woudn't take it back. The thing I really did enjoy was finding and evolving Pokemon. If I already knew them all, I would have been sadder about the games, I think. xD Also the Pokefinder was awesome. I spent hours taking photos. xD

Another thing, I thought Z moves were kinda lame, especially as a replacement for megas. I hardly ever used them. :/ I almost feel like the game should have been Z version instead of Gen 7. Then it would have been cool to change things up a lot. I just don't feel like it's strong enough to be the next generation, kinda. I was looking forward to a third Kalos game honestly. Now I gotta go back and play Y version I guess. xD

"Wasn't strong enough to be the next generation"

I completely agree with this notion

[Palamon]

Hmm.... Sun/Moon.

I thought the games were fun, and had a stronger story than the lackluster X/Y before it. (ORAS are remakes, so for now, I won't include them.) Z moves were fun, and the character development was great. I wasn't too bothered by the changes, either, as I highly doubt future games will have this as Alola is different from other regions in the Pokemon games. My only complaint is the post story. The postgame was pretty boring to me? I'm kinda tired of seeing Looker. No offense to him, or anything, but he was in X/Y's post story too, and had a snippet in ORAS. I did like the nod to ORAS's other dimension thing w/Anabel, though.

I probably won't play through the games again. I already beat both Sun and Moon, and have no real intention of going back, but I do still need to finish getting all the Zygarde Cells and Cores...I'm missing four cells.

[Steel Lunpara]

Yo, I'm reviving this ancient thread because I finally got around to it and beat this game this week and I have things to say.

So, this game, Pokemon Sun. I'm extremely conflicted on it, and honestly, the more I think about it, the more I realize the reason for that is because there are only two things I absolutely love about this game, and both of them are definitely not what I usually play Pokemon for. The story in this game was nuts, and I genuinely believe the characters are the best in the series. Ya boy Guzma, Gladion, Lusamine, and Lillie all steal the show from just about every other character in the franchise, with a few exceptions. But, at the same time, there are two major things that I really just can't forgive the game for.

The first is a personal gripe, they took my National Pokedex away. What even is that? Why? What's even the point? Pokemon is a game about catching them all, that's what you do. And like, I know, sometimes it seems like they never really intended for us to do it, what with all the event pokemon and such, but taking away the ability to clear out the 500 missing pokemon from the regional dex? I guess I'll have to make a living dex now, but that's an order of magnitude more work when the game will now reward you with the shiny charm for much less work. I'm not even gonna get a little diploma or anything, what gives? The story and characters are enough that I might buy Ultra Sun, but if there's no national dex, it's a dealbreaker. The other one is pretty major, I feel- It doesn't feel like it's my adventure. Pokemon Sun is not a game about going on your pokemon journey. It's not. It's a game about being told where to go, being patronizingly told a second time by your stupid talking pokedex, then being outright locked into going anywhere but the right way forward because everything else is arbitrarily gated by thousands of random dudes blocking the way. I will actually take HM's back if it means I don't have to deal with "hahaha, looks like this Tauros is blocking the way, isn't that wacky?" or "Nah dog you're gonna need a Z crystal first" again. The entire progression system is totally whacked out, the game actively discourages exploration and instead forces you to go wherever your friend, or the last kahuna, or captain, or the plot says you have to go next, and it does it agressively enough that you start actively ignoring your surroundings, because that's what the game rewards. I've never had so many unexplored areas to be checked in a pokemon game after I beat it. Not to say they were anything all too interesting, it was all the little stuff you'd usually run into when you're messing around in a city, trying to get your bearings and figure out the way forward. Which, of course, you never do, why would you? The game's not just holding your hand, it handcuffs you and never lets go until you beat the elite four. It brings the whole game up until you enter the Team Skull City down, that's the point where the narrative interest becomes enough to actually get you paying attention.

So, if we've got two things that I love, and two that I can't stand, it's about an average pokemon game, I guess. But lemme tell you what I was excited about most. Omega Ruby is, in my opinion, the best Pokemon game. Not my favorite, there's a difference, but the best one. It has this insane level of polish. Everything that's inconvenient (minus HMs) is gone, all the incredible stuff you never even realized you wanted is put in the game. The DexNav, is, perhaps, my favorite use of the bottom screen in any pokemon game, and just like X and Y, it has the PSS, which is insanely useful. If Pokemon Sun and Moon brought that same level of polish, that'd be worth the price of admission alone, and y'know... It doesn't just not improve further, it takes a lot of steps back. What was up with fly having to go to specific points again? Why is the map always too far out or too far in, and so much harder to read, too? How come we can't see the whole region at once, tabbing through is kind of tedious, y'know? Ride pokemon are a nice replacement for HMs, but they also take the place of key items, and some of them really don't seem to have equivalents. How do we still not have the battle frontier back?

The game's just... Frustrating. It tries to be new and different, and I'm all for that. I wouldn't even say these changes are causative to my problems with the game, but the game is just... Not that good.

Call me back when I'm coming home to Sinnoh.